Arnold v. Arizona Department of Health Services

SARAH D. GRANT, Court of Appeals Judge, Department D.

I. PREFATORY STATEMENT

The issue presented is whether the state legislature, through various statutes, has mandated that state and county governments provide mental health care to the chronically mentally ill and whether those governments have breached that statutory duty.

We do not here consider any common law duty or obligation of the state or county to care for the chronically mentally ill but only construe the statutes by which the legislature has declared such a duty. Nor do we deal here with the question of funding. The legislature must…